13

I just had my last day at work. This was my first nursing job, my first "career" job, my first awesome paycheck. I have to say though, as last days go it was the most anti-climactic of all the lasts. I got some love from the doctors, and my one awesome buddy brought me a box of chocolate and some other goodies. I'm thankful for goodies.

While I was at work, Scott spent most of the day dismantling, transporting, and relocating the chicken coop. Yep, the girls moved out today. He sent me play by play texts. And he gave them extra treats for me this morning. I know it's completely silly, but that totally made me feel better. (If you're judging me, just unsubscribe now. Spontaneous irrational emotions are part of my charm. I can't change, I've tried.) I've been fretting for weeks now about when the girls actually moved out, and maybe dealing with some guilt (irrational side again, I know they're just chickens- doesn't change anything)... so last night I conned Scott (after a few beers) and a buddy of ours to take a "family portrait".

Fellers Family Photo 2012. Too bad I'm not sending out Christmas cards.

14

14 days until we get aboard our plane to Christchurch.

The shipping company called yesterday and basically said, "You remember that 72 hour window, Wed-Fri? We can't do that. We'll see you tomorrow at 1pm."

Needless to say, my last two days of work turned into one day. We fueled up on wine and pizza, and nearly pulled an all-nighter last night.

It's now almost 3pm Tuesday.

Look at my car for comparison! So tiny!

This monstrosity just took away all of our belongings, save for 2 suitcases, 2 carry-ons, and 2 bikes.

The moving guy also bought our recliner off of us. 40 bucks!

Scott is selling my car as I write.

Due to the surprise schedule change, these little buggers are staying until tomorrow:

Scramble and Hop, sprinting for treats. I'll miss them!!!

I'm mostly feeling fantastic, and fantastically exhausted.

Is it wrong to open another bottle of wine?

Quick Progress Report

We're in a sort of survival-packing mode. There's no food in the house except Scott's birthday cake, some pickles, and some condiments. Good friends have made us food, offered to have us over for dinner. Anyone who's come by immediately states their concern for our wellbeing...

Oddly, I feel like a photo of my living room looks cleaner than what I'm looking at right now. The stack of boxes on the right (boxes for the cargo ship) has tripled, but somehow the rest of the clutter hasn't diminished. This week, we'll ship all of our cargo to New Zealand, I'll have my last 2 days at work and work party, we clean and move out of our house, and this weekend we'll have our Chico going away party.

Backing up for a minute though, and the thing about the shipping company: they gave us a 3 day window regarding the pick up date. 72 hours. We're supposed to have ALL of our belongings (save the most important things coming on the plane) ready for pick up in a 3 day window. It's a little absurd. It's like, hurry up and wait! We might have to be ready Wednesday morning, we might have to be ready Friday evening. WHO KNOWS!

They'll actually call us 24 hours prior to pick-up, but still. By tomorrow afternoon we have to have all things ship related packed- which actually means we need to have all things plane-related packed. Why? Well, airplane baggage allowances went down in the last year (ie: you only get one free checked bag on international fights) and extra baggage fees went UP. For us to bring 4 extra bags (our original plan) would cost $700! Are you kidding me? So now we need to know exactly how much will fit on the plane, so then, how much to ship. Make sense?

Accomplishments:
Sold the 350 Z!!! (Well, as of tomorrow morning)
Replaced our things that got stolen
Painted walls
Packed a ton

And tomorrow, the chickens move out!

Who, me?

Forging Ahead

Ahhhh, it feels good to be productive! On the long list of to-do's, we've gotten a few "done-s".

Check this out:

All those empty boxes from last week are filled, labeled, and ready for storage. Although this doesn't make the house look that much different, there's not that stuff hiding under the bed or piled in the corners. And there's this many boxes down in the basement waiting to be moved out into the garage. This also doesn't include all of the garbage bags of stuff we threw away or donated.

A few more tasks that felt so good to scratch off the to-do list:

-My car is paid off and I called the DMV today and spoke with a super helpful, genuinely nice man who figured out exactly what date my pink slip would arrive by mail so that I can sell it. And then he went out of his way to give me all the form numbers and knowledge so that I can sell it NOW if I want to. Above and beyond.

-We have a probable buyer for Scott's car, we just have to fix a few minor issues.

-Direct TV is cancelled and box is sent back.

-Got the low down on how to cancel cell phone, PG&E, garbage, and transfer insurance policies when the time comes.

-Have a new home for the chickens (but they haven't moved yet, I'm overly attached.)

-Got the house cleaned, and I mean clean, for potential tenants to walk through. Our property manager is coming by today to put the For Rent sign in our yard!!! EEEK!

I will miss this house, but I am sure the next folks will enjoy it just as much as we did

As many of you can attest, this is magically clean for our living room

Progress is happening, and it feels so good.

On a different note, we've had problems with our chicken, Hop, being able to fly. If we keep them in the chicken run, she finds her way over the fence, and June squawks bloody murder until we come out and rectify the situation (our poor neighbors, they're not going to miss us at all!)

Well this morning Scott let all 3 chickens out of the run, so they are all happily scratching away when I opened the back window to throw them some leftover breakfast. Naturally, they all come barreling over to see what I've got, but instead of waiting under the window like usual, this is what happens:

I have suffered several chicken-claw induced lacerations from many attempts at the clipping of wings. And today I learn it's done nothing. Not only can Hop still fly plenty well, but June has absolutely no problem getting airborne either, despite the extra inches she's put on round her middle. Only poor Scramble is left on the ground wondering what the heck happened. She's far too chubby to fly. I didn't want her to feel poorly about her lacking athletic skills though, so I fed her extra pancakes.

Autumn

Last week officially marked the end of summer and the beginning of fall here in California, although you truly wouldn't know it where I'm at. Ninety something degrees of hot post-summer sun is beating down on my little house, continuing to dehydrate my lawn & tempt my finger to flip on the A/C. Hasn't happened yet, I'm holding strong.

I think it goes without saying that this week has been a rough one for me. Although grandpa's passing was no surprise, I still feel the loss so much deeper than I realized I would. Of course I should have the relief of him finally being released from his worn-out body, but the selfish side of me just isn't ready to accept that he's gone. But as I said before, he would see absolutely no reason for all this belly-achin' over an old farm boy who passed away after 98 great years. So I've done my best today to enjoy the loveliness around my cute (if not sweltering hot) little home.

"Feel better" flowers - I do love dahlia season

 These are my three chickens, or as I refer to them: Backyard Terrorists.

Hop, Scramble, and June, who all waddled off 2 seconds later, realizing there were no treats.

The white chicken (June) and the smaller darker red chicken (Hop) are the replacement hens that we bought after our beloved Omelet & Quiche died back in June. I don't care what anyone says, or how miniscule chicken brains must be, these gals have hilarious personalities, and they know where the treats come from. They never cease to make me laugh. A sprinting chicken is a sight to behold- like an over stuffed football held up by toothpick legs- not a creature designed for running. And I know it seems crazy that we bought two new hens just a few months before moving out of the country, but I couldn't bear to see Scramble so lonely... she would just stand in the middle of the lawn squawking at the top of her lungs looking for her old pals. It was enough to melt even Scott's icy chicken-wary heart, and after I read literature about how a hen will die if she's all alone (flock animal mentality), he let me get two more.

Right before June charged the camera, trying to see if the shiny bits were edible.

Scramble looking quite demure, Hop doing what she does best.

The problem with having three chickens, is that you multiply the chicken demolition squad by three. Three beaks pecking your precious garden fruits and vegetables. Six feet scratching apart the lawn and the fresh fruit vines. Three fuzzy butts depositing bare-foot landmines all over the yard. Don't get me wrong, I obviously love having the ladies or we wouldn't have them. But they come with their price.

Massive anti-terrorist fence around tomatoes, watermelon, and peppers.

Our only cantaloupe on the whole vine, demolished by three greedy girls.

Of course, the upside (besides the hilarity of these silly, friendly, curious creatures): fresh eggs - 3 every day! We're lucky to frequently be able to make breakfast together... yes, the original three were aptly named, Scramble, Omelet, & Quiche. Our cholesterol has never been so high!

Hard to believe those silly squawking creatures make such beautiful brown eggs.

In the spirit of enjoying my backyard farm, I also took a picture of my only prize pumpkin. Last year the backyard terrorists annihilated the pumpkin vine before it could grow a decent squash, and they nearly succeeded in all devastation again this year, but one fruit survived and became twice their size.

My homegrown 16 lb. pumpkin, proudly displayed on the porch.

I love autumn, but like most, I'm not particularly looking forward to winter. So with any luck, Scott & I will be in New Zealand by the end of 2012, which should be just around the end of fall. Unfortunately we'll miss springtime in NZ, but I have to say, I'm not too broken-hearted about having a summer-fall-summer-fall pattern this year. Regardless, here's a few pics of what we're currently missing out on, as late September correlates with late March down under.

Meadow among the mountains of the South Island

Mount Cook in the springtime

The best part of spring in NZ- baby lambs! If I got Scott talked into chickens, these should be easy, right???